Fantasy Football News | Page 47

We’ll see how Jackson is listed on this week’s injury reports, but John Harbaugh said the plan is for Lamar Jackson to play against the Dolphins on Thursday night.

As the story points out, Jackson’s status for Sunday’s game against the Bears was a source of some confusion over the weekend. Jackson has missed the last three games with a hamstring injury, but he was back on the practice field last week. His participation level became an issue after the Ravens improperly listed him as a full participant before changing the designation to limited when they ruled him out on Saturday.

The Commanders have made a few moves on Monday to help replace their injured kicker.

Washington announced Matt Gay has been downgraded to out with a back injury. Because of that, the club signed kicker Matthew Wright to the practice squad and has elevated him for Monday’s matchup against the Chiefs.

Wright, 29, filled in for Joey Slye for one game with the Titans earlier this month. He has previously appeared in at least one game for the Chiefs, 49ers, Panthers, Steelers, and Jaguars, the story said.

Vikings QB Carson Wentz is undergoing season-ending surgery on his left shoulder. He will be placed on IR.

Related players: J.J. McCarthy, Max Brosmer

Wentz played multiple games with the injury, the post went on to say. As we reported earlier today, McCarthy is in line to return to practice and start for Minnesota in Week 9 against Detroit. Brosmer could become the team's QB2. The team is said to be high on Brosmer, but he's an undrafted rookie. The Vikings will likely bring in another QB.

There's a chance multiple key players return for the Atlanta Falcons' game Sunday against the New England Patriots.

Falcons head coach Raheem Morris said Monday all players who have been injured lately are considered day-to-day in Week 9. That includes safety Jessie Bates III (ankle), quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (knee), wide receiver Drake London (hip), defensive lineman Zach Harrison (knee), cornerback Billy Bowman Jr. (hamstring) and edge rusher Jalon Walker (groin).

The Falcons take on the Patriots in the early window on Sunday and it looks like there's a chance both players are back for a Falcons team that struggled against the Dolphins. Penix has a knee injury and did practice leading up to last week's game. London has a hip injury. Hopefully we'll know more by Wednesday.

The Cardinals released veteran RB Michael Carter, per the wire.

Related players: Trey Benson, Zonovan Knight, Emari Demercado, D'Ernest Johnson

Carter wasn't impressive despite getting the starting nod a couple of weeks. The Cards will go with Knight as their top back and Demercado, at least for now, looks to slide into the RB2 role. Benson will miss at least one more week on IR, but has a chance to come back for Week 10.

Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell told reporters last week that quarterback J.J. McCarthy would start when he’s healthy.

They may need him to be this week.

According to multiple reporters on the scene, McCarthy was practicing on Monday during the media’s brief viewing window. Carson Wentz, who has started the last five games for Minnesota, was not seen participating in the session.

As the story said, Wentz has been dealing with an injury to his non-throwing (left) shoulder initially suffered in the club’s Oct. 5 win over the Browns in London. He was in obvious pain toward the end of last Thursday’s loss to the Chargers after taking five sacks. Now, McCarthy looks like he could get a full week of practice in since his ankle injury in Week 2.

The Panthers moved Chuba Hubbard back into the starting lineup when the running back returned from a calf strain in Week 7, but it sounds like Rico Dowdle may be returning to the role he filled while Hubbard is out.

Dowdle ran eight times for 54 yards in Sunday’s loss to the Bills while Hubbard had 12 carries for 34 yards and a touchdown. Dowdle also led the team in rushing in Week 7 and he posted 472 yards from scrimmage in his two starts earlier this season.

On Monday, head coach Dave Canales said that Dowdle has been “exceptional” and that conversations about how to handle the timeshare in the backfield will “definitely” be taking place in the coming days, the story said. It's hard to ignore what Dowdle has done and it sounds like the team admits that as well. Dowdle has been the better fantasy play between the two backs, and that will be especially true if he sees more touches.

Bengals QB Joe Flacco is day-to-day with a shoulder injury, coach Zac Taylor said. He is sore today.

Related players: Jake Browning

Flacco is also not young anymore and is coming off back to back week's of 30-plus attempts (47 vs. Steelers and 34 vs. Jets). The Bengals play the Bears in Week 9 and the day to day label means Flacco should at least have a shot to play in Week 9.

Coen hinted at some lineup shifting after the bye week, saying: "We are going to play the best 11 [on each side of the ball] as much as humanly possible." He said that during an answer about assessing Travis Hunter's play and if they would be updating the plan for Hunter's usage after the bye.

Reading between the lines, it looks like Hunter is going to be a significant player in the offense going forward. That's what Coen said heading into last Sunday's game against the Rams, and then Hunter led the Jaguars in targets (14), catches (eight) and receiving yards (101) while playing a season-high 64 snaps. He now leads the team in receptions (28) and is second in receiving yards (298).

Related players: Brian Thomas Jr., Dyami Brown, Parker Washington, Tim Patrick

The story said don't be surprised if Hunter starts getting the WR1 treatment from the Jaguars in the season's second half, and that's partly due to his playmaking and run-after-the-catch ability, but also because Thomas hasn't played at that level all season. BTJ has five drops and has had really one solid fantasy game for owners this season. BTJ owners have already seen Brown, Washington and Patrick snag balls from Trevor Lawrence this season so when the team says they are going to play the best 11 players, it can't help but feel like bad news for Thomas. We just posted a story about how the Jaguars say they are not planning to trade Thomas, but it looks like he could be operating as a WR2 for the second half of the season. Hopefully for BTJ owners this is a wake-up call for the second year WR.

Though he missed Sunday’s loss to the Bills, Panthers quarterback Bryce Young is getting closer to returning from an ankle injury.

Head coach Dave Canales provided an update on the quarterback during his Monday press conference.

“With Bryce, [he’s] just getting better every day,” Canales said. “Had a good session running today in return-to-play. The goal is to get him out there on Wednesday, move him around, see if we can get him into practice in a mode. So, I’m optimistic he’ll be out there. But we’re going to take it day-to-day with him.”

Related players: Andy Dalton

With the Panthers looking to stay competitive, and Dalton pretty much a disaster in Week 8, Young may have no choice but to be ready to go this week. Dalton turned the ball over three times in the team's loss to the Bills. The Panthers have a tough matchup on the road in Green Bay for Week 9.